172 Milk Preparations. 



information, the dairymen take a widely grown herb (name was 

 unknown to Marcoff), which they crush up in small linen sacks. A 

 small quantity of the juice is then squeezed out and added to the 

 raw milk, whereupon without further treatment the coagulation of 

 the milk takes place within a few hours. From this preparation 

 the Yoghurt then may be prepared. 



According to this description the primary juice action may 

 be attributed to a vegetable rennet. With the plant juice other 

 bacteria also enter into the milk, the product of which is represent- 

 ed by their elective cultivation. 



As effective bacteria in the production of Bulgarian butter- 

 milk are considered: 1. A lactic acid long rod, which belongs to 

 the acidophilic bacilli of the intestinal tract : the Bacillus bulgari- 

 cus. This is the aroma producer of Yoghurt. The Yoghurt also 

 contains streptococci of lactic acid; yeasts are not desirable (see 

 Table IV). 



The same conditions exist in the Armenian Mazun, a very 

 aromatic preparation of buttermilk, which is prepared from boiled 

 cow milk, buffalo, sheep or goat milk. Diiggeli demonstrated that 

 satisfactory Mazun (Tartaric Katych) contains principally three 

 varieties of microbes, a streptococcus, a long rod-shaped lactic 

 acid bacterium, and yeasts, the activity of which produces the 

 aromatic bodies, besides a slight amount of alcohol and carbonic 

 acid. 



Leben-raib, according to Bist and Khoury contains five micro- 

 organisms, among them being two varieties of yeast and two lactic 

 acid producers. The buttermilk is prepared in a similar way to 

 Kefir, by using cow, buffalo or goat milk. 



Kefir has been used for a much longer time and therefore is 

 more generally known. It contains alcohol and is very rich in car- 

 bonic acid ; it has a pleasant, slightly acid odor and taste. It con- 

 tains the milk proteins split up to some extent (Hueppe) in ad- 

 dition to alcohol and carbonic acid and a slight amount of glycerin, 

 succinic acid, butyric acid and acetic acid. 



Kefir is best prepared from skimmed milk, since in full milk, 

 cream clumps may readily result and the Kefir thereby becomes 

 rancid, which diminishes the consuming value. According to Freu- 

 denreich the fermentation is principally produced by four varieties 

 of organisms which include yeasts, two streptococci varieties, and 

 one microbe described as the Bacillus caucasicus. 



The yeasts are the Torula kefir and Saccliaromyces fragilis, 

 both of which ferment lactose. Investigations which have been re- 

 cently conducted by Kuntze showed that the bacteria of Kefir con- 

 sist of an aroma-forming rod which produces casease and alcohol, 

 and a lactic acid long rod which at first acidifies the milk and then 

 renders it alkaline. They are the Bacillus esterificans Maassen and 

 the Bacillus kefir classified by Kuntze as belonging to the group of 

 butyric acid bacilli (cited by Weigmann). These bacilli inoculated 



